I have to say that Apple has set a Flag for two years. After nearly two years of waiting, AirPower officially announced abortion.
As Apple’s first wireless charger, AirPower was released with iPhone X on September 13, 2017, Beijing time; On March 30, 2019, Apple officially announced the cancellation of AirPower because it could not meet Apple’s high hardware standards.
Ending a released product before it is released is unprecedented in Apple’s history.
1. Apple announced the cancellation of the AirPower project.
On March 30, 2019, Beijing time, Apple officially cancelled the AirPower wireless charging pillow project today. As for the reason, Apple saidCan not meet its high standards for hardware products.
Dan Riccio, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, mentioned in the statement: "After hard work, we came to the conclusion that AirPower could not meet our high standards, so we cancelled the project. We apologize to those users who are looking forward to the release of AirPower. We still firmly believe that the future is wireless and are committed to pushing the wireless experience forward. "
In September 2017, Apple released the AirPower charging pillow with iPhone X, describing an innovative accessory that can wirelessly charge three Apple products at the same time, which was widely expected after the release.
However, it has not been officially released for nearly two years, and there are rumors that Apple has encountered technical problems that cannot be overcome, which has blocked its listing.
But there are also rumors that bring some hope to fans, and users still don’t want to see the project completely end.
Second, why did AirPower cancel?
Although Apple said that the reason for the cancellation was that AirPower could not meet their high standards, as for the exact reason, as early as September 2018, it was reported that AirPower would have a difficult delivery.
The first news broke out was Sonny Dickson, who said on September 17, 2018 that there were three major problems in the production of AirPower from some Apple insiders, which made the product unable to go on the market as scheduled, and it would be delayed or even abandoned.
1. Overheating management problem: At present, AirPower generates too much heat, which reduces the charging rate. As the heat is transferred to the charging device during charging, it affects the charging, and at the same time, the heat will affect the internal charging chip using the "reduced iOS version", making some of its functions invalid.
2. Whether in software or hardware, the docking between AirPower and different devices is still not stable, especially when docking with Apple Watch and AirPod, there will be problems when transmitting charging data to iPhone.
3. The part responsible for wireless charging of AirPower consists of 21 to 24 induction coils. In order to charge at most three groups of products at the same time, AirPower has to divide the induction coils into three groups, which seems to be good in design, but it is quite complicated when the real production starts.
3. In the 563 days from birth to abortion, what did AirPower experience?
February 2017: Apple officially joined WPC wireless power consortium.
On February 12, 2017, we learned from the supply chain that Apple officially joined WPC wirelesspowerconsortium. By logging in to WirelessPowerConsortium official website, we learned that Apple’s information has been included in the certification catalogue, which involves two main parts: mobile phones and mobile phone accessories.
WPC(Wireless Power Consortium) was established on December 17th, 2008. Its mission is to create and promote the wide adoption of the international wireless charging standard Qi compatible with all rechargeable electronic devices in the market.
February 2017: Apple responded to why it joined WPC wireless power consortium.
Regarding why we joined WPC wireless power consortium, an Apple spokesman responded to this matter: Apple is a member of many industry development organizations, and as the leader and contributor of these organizations, Apple actively participates in the activities of these organizations.
Apple’s participation in wireless power consortium is intended to participate in the open cooperative development of future wireless charging standards and provide more ideas for the development of wireless charging standards. We are very much looking forward to its cooperation with WPC and other members of the alliance.
In addition, WPC also responded to Apple’s accession to the alliance: the companies that occupy the largest market in the mobile phone market are now members of WPC, and they will actively participate in the discussion of wireless charging standards. In the past year, we have seen that Qi has become the de facto standard for wireless charging. This year, we expect the whole ecosystem to have a stronger development momentum.
September 2017: Apple iPhone is equipped with wireless charging for the first time.
In 2017, Apple released three wireless charging mobile phones, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone X, which brought wireless charging function to the iPhone for the first time. With the designated wireless charger, it can realize 7.5W wireless fast charging. Apple iPhone is equipped with wireless charging, and the driving effect is obvious. Domestic manufacturers have followed this function one after another. It is reported that more manufacturers will join this queue in the future.
Apple released the iPhone 8/X with wireless charging function, which is a milestone for the wireless charging industry, and the entire wireless charging industry showed explosive growth.
Take WPC wireless power consortium as an example. When the iPhone was released, there were only over 200 WPC members. With the addition of Apple and the confirmation of the wireless charging function of the new iPhone, the number of WPC members has now exceeded 600, exceeding the number of WPC members accumulated in the past nine years in less than one year!
September 2017: Apple’s AirPower wireless charging pillow was released with the iPhone.
The original wireless charging board of Apple AirPower announced at this conference has one-to-many charging function, and at the same time, it can wirelessly charge three devices: iPhone 8/8 Plus/X, Apple Watch Series and AirPods.
However, when it comes to the release time, the official said at the time that it would wait until 2018, and did not give a more specific time.
Just as everyone cheered for Apple to announce its support for wireless charging, the AirPower foundry was also exposed. According to insiders, the order for Apple AirPower was exclusively taken by Luxshare, and the first batch of goods was 10 million units.
November 2017: Apple AirPower is now in mass production, and the time to market is confirmed!
About AirPower, I learned two latest information: 1. Apple’s AirPower wireless charging board has been mass-produced, with a daily production capacity of 60-80K, which is exclusively supplied by Luxshare; 2. The listing time is after the Spring Festival in 2018.
December 2017: It is suspected that the internal coil of Apple AirPower wireless charger is exposed!
Recently, @ Chargehead.com Weibo exposed a photo of the internal coil of Apple’s suspected AirPower wireless charger. As can be seen from the picture, it has a total of 16 coils, and the overall shape is quite consistent with the AirPower coincidence of Apple’s official track shape.
The official AirPower wireless charger has built-in multiple coils, which solves the problem of charging multiple devices at the same time, and also solves the problem of finding the position when charging, so it should have the characteristics of multiple coils, free position and one-to-many charging. Now it seems that the exposure map is exactly as we expected.
January 2018: Apple AirPower has not been listed yet, and Shenzhen manufacturers have launched a mini version.
When AirPower was ready to come out, the charging head network got news from the supply chain, and Shenzhen manufacturers had launched a mini version of AirPower. This mini version can not only charge Apple watch, but also charge an iPhone X at the same time. Compared with the AirPower officially released by Apple, this looks much smaller in appearance.
February 2018: Apple AirPower and AirPods wireless charging boxes finally arrived: it is expected to be shipped in March.
On Wednesday, there was a rumor that Apple would ship AirPower wireless charging boards and AirPods wireless charging boxes from March. These two highly anticipated accessories were introduced during the press conference in September 2017.
Apple Post quoted an informant from Best Buy as saying that the large chain retailer and Apple authorized dealers will start selling AirPower wireless charging boards and AirPods wireless charging box sets on the same day next month.
April 2018: Apple was plagued by fever, and the time to market of AirPower was delayed.
Earlier, there were rumors that Apple’s AirPower wireless charging board is expected to be shipped in March. However, now that April is almost over, AirPower has not been released.
As for the reason of "breaking the contract", it was learned from the supply chain that the fever problem plagued Apple, and the listing time of AirPower was postponed, which was initially expected to be postponed to May and June.
July 2018: Apple AirPower wireless charging production progress update.
According to the supply chain news, the production progress update of Apple AirPower wireless charger was revealed:
1. 22 coils are built into the rechargeable pillow;
2. Apple redefined (customized) the wireless charging main control chip;
3. Each coil is tiled and does not overlap with each other;
4, each coil is very small, so small that the chip can accurately control the switch of each coil;
5. Each coil can wirelessly charge the Apple Watch separately;
6. Apple engineers hope to be perfect enough and are still debugging;
7. Lead the new development direction of wireless charging again.
September 2018: China engineers challenged Apple to develop a cheap version of AirPower wireless charger.
This wireless charger adopts five independent wireless charging and transmitting modules, each of which can work independently and not interfere with each other; The modules are optimized by algorithm to avoid working at the same time and switch intelligently; Support free position charging, and support multiple devices charging at the same time. In the actual experience, it is almost the same as AirPower.
All the five modules of this cheap version of AirPower support iPhone 7.5W fast charging, and are compatible with Samsung and other mobile phones’ 10W wireless fast charging.
This design method has advantages compared with the current multi-coil scheme on the market, and has the same experience as AirPower. The input interface is USB-C, which is not a common Micro-USB, and supports USB PD high-power charger for power supply.
As for when this cheap version of AirPower will be sold, it should not be too far away. After all, three new iPhone machines are coming, and it is the belief of fruit fans to collect three artifacts to charge together.
September 2018: The iPhone XS conference did not mention AirPower at all.
On September 13, 2018, Beijing time, the annual Apple iPhone conference arrived as scheduled. Just like the previous online exposure, a total of three new iPhone machines were released, and their official names were called iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max and iPhone XR.
In terms of wireless charging, the whole system is equipped with an upgraded version of wireless charging, which is faster than iPhone X.
Unfortunately, however, Apple officials didn’t disclose any information about the sale of AirPower at this conference, and after the conference, Apple official website didn’t find any information about the sale of this product.
September 2018: Apple official website AirPower "disappears"!
After the iPhone conference in September, Apple official website even deleted almost all the information related to AirPower, and this product disappeared directly, which was suspected of being hacked.
Previously, on the iPhone product introduction page, there were descriptions about the AirPower wireless charging board, but in the past year, Apple has completely cleaned up its traces in official website, and the only thing left is a charging picture on the AirPods charging box page, and Apple has not even mentioned the name AirPower.
October 2018: Guo Ming predicted that AirPower may be released in the first quarter of 2019.
Apple analyst Guo Ming Ti said in a research report that Apple may launch AirPower in the first quarter of 2019, which means that the accessory may be released soon.
The delayed release of AirPower may also be the reason why Apple has not released AirPods wireless charging box.
Guo Ming said that like AirPower, AirPods wireless charging box may be launched in early 2019.
December 2018: Apple has not given up AirPower, and the latest patent reveals its powerful functions.
Apple AirPower has repeatedly "cooled down" and is suspected of being cut. However, a new patent recently exposed shows that Apple has not given up this product: Apple applied for a new patent of AirPower, which can cooperate with iOS to display the power of multiple devices.
According to reports, although Apple’s AirPower wireless charging cradle is still nowhere to be found, the patent application recently published by the US Patent and Trademark Office provides some details about the safety function of accessories. This patent describes how to use a unique ID to protect the data transmitted between AirPower and the device it is charging, and so on.
A drawing in this patent application shows that AirPower can identify the device with the largest screen being charged and display the charging status of other charging devices on it.
December 2018: Apple has not given up AirPower wireless charging: it continues to recruit people around the world.
According to the official recruitment websites of Apple in the United States and New Zealand, Apple is still trying to recruit engineers to develop, hoping to make the wireless charging pillow available for sale as soon as possible. You can also see the mission of the wireless charging technology team to build the best wireless charging user experience in the world by inventing the most advanced technology.
Apple’s current wireless charging R&D team is located in California, USA and Auckland, New Zealand, of which California is the spacecraft headquarters and Auckland is the wireless charging technology company PowerbyProxi acquired by Apple in October 2017.
PowerbyProxi’s unique stunt is bowl-shaped multi-coil wireless charging, which supports wireless charging at any free position in the bowl. This company was originally spun off from a project of the University of Auckland. It participated in the development of wireless charging system based on Qi standard, and it is one of the 25 Pharaoh members of WPC in wireless power consortium.
January 2019: AirPower has started stocking: 22 coils!
According to the latest news from foreign media ChargerLAB: AirPower has started stocking. Almost a year and a half after the official release, this product is finally coming! According to a supply chain source in the picture, Lixun is already in production and will be released immediately.
After we exposed the news that AirPower has started stocking, netizens from IThome revealed more details about Apple AirPower in the comment area of the article. These key parameters gave us a deeper understanding of this new product:
1. AirPower has 22 coils, which are stacked in 3 layers;
2. One floor has 8 coils, and the second and third floors have 7 coils respectively;
3. Production scheduling The planned mass production time is January 21st.
January 2019: Apple iPhone back clip battery page surprised AirPower wireless charging pillow.
A message confirmed from the side that AirPower will come soon: the Apple iPhone smart battery case page surprised the AirPower wireless charging pillow. Up to now, the product description of iPhone XS smart battery case has not been modified, which points out that it is "compatible with AirPower wireless charging pad and other Qi-certified chargers".
In the product descriptions of the United States and other countries, Apple only mentioned the compatibility with Qi-certified chargers. It is worth mentioning that apart from the iPhone XS smart battery case on Apple Mall in Malaysia, Apple did not mention AirPower on all new smart battery case product pages in Malaysia, the United States or other countries.
January 2019: AirPower magnetic vision system patent exposure
According to the patents approved by Apple today, the company really needs to solve some problems before it officially sells the AirPower charging board, including this "Magnetic Vision System".
According to the PatentlyApple website, Apple’s new patent describes in detail the working principle of AirPower’s "magnetic vision system", which is designed to prevent foreign metal objects from permanently damaging the charging board. Apple’s final solution is that once the charging board detects a potentially destructive foreign object, AirPower will automatically shut down and terminate the power supply.
March 2019: AirPods 2 nd generation packaging surprised the trail of AirPower.
On March 20th, AirPods finally ushered in an update! The media has got the AirPods 2 generation just released by Apple. Compared with the previous generation, one of its major upgrade points is the new support for Qi wireless charging.
Looking at the package, we were pleasantly surprised to find the trace of AirPower. The package impressively marked this headset as "suitable for AirPower charging pillow and Qi certified charger". This is also the first exposure of Apple’s official channel after AirPower repeatedly jumped the ticket.
In the rumor, AirPods also has an unused packaging version with a photo of AirPower printed on the back.
March 30, 2019: Apple officially announced the cancellation of the AirPower project because it could not meet the hardware standards.
On March 30, 2019, Beijing time, Dan Riccio, vice president of Apple’s senior hardware engineering department, sent an email to inform the media that the AirPower project had been officially terminated because the products could not meet Apple’s high quality standards, so he decided to cancel the project.
summary
AirPower is gone, but the innovation pace of Shenzhen manufacturers continues.
For example, the dual-device wireless charging mentioned earlier, which came out the first time after the release of AirPower, supports dual-device wireless charging in fixed position with dual coils. Later, there was even a production version of the five-coil wireless charging, which supported free position and dual-device charging. It could charge iPhone+AirPods or two mobile phones wirelessly at the same time, and the actual experience was close to AirPower.
As Apple said, we still firmly believe that the future belongs to wireless.